Last Update: 25 July 2005. Minor update, corrected some linksEdit 22/12/2006: Since this is quite old some information such as system requirements and links may not be correct however most of the information should still be relevant

This is for all the people who want to get started in image creation but don't know how, you can also use it to look up a certain aspect you need help with.

1. Getting Started2. What To Use?3. Creating First Image4. Fonts5. Hosting6. Animation7. Creating First Sig8. Which Format?9. Advice From Members

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1. Getting StartedSo you want to create some cool images like the sigs you see on this site, the first step is to make sure your computer can handle the applications. The two main applications that are used are Adobe Photoshop (PS) and Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) which was formally known as Jasc Paint Shop Pro.

System Requirements - taken from the official websites

PSWindows

*Intel® Pentium® III or 4 processor *Microsoft® Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 3 or Windows XP (unless older version such as 7 or 6 which will run on 98+) *192MB of RAM (256MB recommended) *280MB of available hard-disk space *Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card *1,024x768 or greater monitor resolution *CD-ROM drive *Internet or phone connection required for product activation

If your computer does not have these then it is not recommended to install the products as it will be hard to impossible to use them.

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2. What To UseAs mentioned above Adobe's Photoshop (PS) and Corel's Paint Shop Pro (PSP), these are both paid options, though they do have free trials. Another image editor is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is free. This part will run through the pros and cons of each of them.

Adobe Photoshop™ - http://www.adobe.com (30 day free trial)Probably the most well known image editor it is also one of, if not the most expensive editor, retailing for about $650.00 (USD) for the new version (CS). It is also the most expansive offering many options, most of which won't be used by the average user. Features:The industry standard for professional photo editing, graphic design, and digital imaging.Includes ImageReady CS for specialized Web graphics production--rollovers, animation, etc.Preview, organize, search, and manage image files with an integrated File Browser.Combines tools for painting, drawing, retouching, adding notes, and working with type.Edit images non-destructively with layer style effects, adjustment layers, masks, and history.Automate tasks and speed up production with actions, batch processing, and history tracking.Now supports preprocessing of RAW camera data from most digital camera models.

Pros:

Offers ultimate flexibility and non-destructive editing

The industry standard for professional photo editing, graphic design, and digital imaging

Welcome screen and improved help eases the learning curve for new users. Help menu is customizable

GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/ (FREE)For free you can't get much better, throw away paint right now and download this! GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the "free Photoshop," it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop. Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for Windows without significant problems. It doesn't support GIF format.Features:Full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil, an airbrush, cloning, etc.Tile-based memory management so image size is limited only by available disk spaceSub-pixel sampling for all paint tools for high-quality anti-aliasingFull Alpha channel supportLayers and channelsA procedural database for calling internal Gimp functions from external programs, such as Script-FuAdvanced scripting capabilitiesMultiple undo/redo (limited only by disk space)Transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flipFile formats supported include GIF, JPEG, PNG, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP and many othersLoad, display, convert and save to many file formatsSelection tools including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier and intelligentPlug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters

Pros:

Free download

Robust set of image-editing tools

New interface makes it much easier to use

Cons:

Not as refined as other Windows-based image editors

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So which to get? If you have money to spare and want the best then go with Photoshop, its features give you everything you could need, and allows you to keep up with industry standards.If you want more than basic editing but don't want to spend a lot of money then go with Paint Shop Pro, it allows you to do a lot of Photoshops features, though some are harder in PSP, without the phenomenal price tag.Want to just try your hand at image editing and scared by the big price tags then go with the GIMP, allowing you to do a lot more than paint for free you can't beat the price.

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3. Creating Your First ImageSo you have your software, now how do you start?The best way to learn how to use the software is to use it! So get on Google and start searching for Tutorials (help guides), of which millions are avaliable for free!A good place to start is Pixel2Life (http://www.pixel2life.com/), which has tutorials for almost every editing program ever made, all for free!If you decided on Photoshop then another good place to start is Good-Tutorials (http://www.good-tutorials.com), which at the time of writing had 6460 tutorials!

You may also want to use some images already made in your sig, for which these sites may help

Remember tutorials are there to help you learn how to use features, experiment, try out new things and mix and match to get a truely unique image.

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4. FontsThis is a basic guide to installing custom fonts. There are lots of FREE fonts avaliable online from many different sites, the best of which are linked to below.This is a step by step guide to installing one font from the site http://www.dafont.com, though the process is roughly the same for all font sites.

Before you start you will need a utility to uncompress the font file such as WinZip (http://www.winzip.com) or WinRAR (http://www.rarlabs.com)

Some fonts will not work on macs

Step 1Enter the address of the site you want to go to into your browser and find a font you like.Screenshot

5. HostingSo you have created your new image and you want people to see it, how do you get it on the web? There are several sites that will allow you to do just that, the most popular of which is Imageshack™. The two below are free!

Imageshack allows you up to 1024k file size and supports gif, jpg, png, bmp, swf, tiff and you do not need to register to use. Unlimited uploading.http://www.imageshack.us

Photobucket allows you up to 250k file size. You need to register to use and if you do not log in, in 90 days your account is deleted. You are only allowed 25 megs of space.http://www.photobucketcom

Most people here (gta-sanandreas.com) use Image Shack. It is customary to say thanks to your host with some text or a button, if you use Image Shack you can use this:

CODE

[IMG]http://img8.exs.cx/img8/5165/i7wt.png[/IMG]

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6. AnimationBoth PS and PSP come with applications to create animations, in PS you get Image Ready® and in PSP you get Animation Shop®. Both of these are too intricate to go into detail with here, but below are links to give you help with these apps.

.gif - Graphics Interface Format is a format with a limited amount of colors (in general a maximum of 256 colors per image)It is ideal for images with a few colors, flat cartoon like images, it can have animation, it can have transparent backgrounds. Do not use for large files or files with lots of colours

.png - The Portable Network Graphics format was designed to be a lossless format for use on the WEB (among other things). It does reduce the size of your files. However since it preserves all the detail and all the colors the size reduction is not as much as GIF or JPG. PNG is a good format for saving your images. Most modern browsers support PNG. It allows transparent images (like the Imageshack button shown above, which is a png file.)

.jpg - JPG stands for Joint Photographic Group, which is the name of the organization which created this format. JPG was designed for the storage of photographs and is in fact used in most digital cameras. It is lossy, so you do lose detail, but you can choose how much detail you lose.

Step twoGet to know:Before you actually start making animations you may want to play around with your program first, to get used to its funtions and stuff. You will probably want to play around with effects mainly.

Step three:Create!First you will need some images to animate. You first create a sequence of images that flow well, make the movement of each very little, and make lots of them.

You may want to start off with a b/g first, then another image the same with text or a picture.

Now for the animation part. Select animation wizard and add the images in the order you want them to appear, and how long you want them to appear for. Make sure all the frames move together smoothly, there is nothing worse than a bad animation!

You can set your animation to loop, or just play once. If you set it on loop make sure that you copy/paste a few of the last frame so that there is a period in between the next loop.If you set it to play once, you might want a longer animation. Just make sure you dont make it too long!

Now to edit it. if one of the frames doesent appear for long enough, copy the frame, and paste it where you want it to go. If one appears for too long, delete one copy of it.

Now preveiw your animation. If you are happy... Save!, you dont want to lose your work. If not, keep editing untill you are happy!

SaveWhen you make an animation you must save it as a .gif.

UploadNow, youve made your first animation! But where do you upload it? Most people use Image Shack, it is easy fast and simple